Perge is the closest significant Romanruin to Antalya, and well worth a visit.
You can make a day of ruin-hopping by combining it with visits to Aspendos, Termessos and perhaps even Side.
The Great Theater and the stadium of Perge (PEHR-geh) are its most impressive and intact buildings, but the remnants of its massive Hellenistic-Roman gate-towersare most photographed because they’re so unusual.
Through the gates are remnants of a fine colonnaded street—not as fine as the Arcadian Way at Ephesus, but still quite impressive. The southern baths and theagora are worth exploring. The acropolis, on a nearby hilltop, has few extant buildings but a fine overallpanorama of the ruins.
With Antalya or Side as your base, car or guided tourare the easiest ways to visit Perge. By public transport, take a minibus from Antalya’s Otogar to the town of Aksu on the Antalya-Side highway, then hitch, hike or taxi 2 km (1.2 miles, a 20-minute walk) north to Perge.
Speaking of hiking, Perge is a starting-point for the St Paul Trail leading north up to the Anatolian plateau. (The other starting-point is Aspendos.)
